Pre-Thanksgiving Thanks Giving...

Thanksgiving is so much more than a day.

It's a lifestyle.

A choice to both notice and count your blessings.

A decision to have an attitude of gratitude in your life.

So many, many blessings all around me.

So many reasons to give thanks.

Thank You, God, for Your blessings in my life.

I’ve taken the Joy Dare.

I’m counting one thousand thanks in one year.

I hunt for thanksgiving using the prompts Ann gives us each month.

If you are interested in joining in, click the link above or at the bottom of this post.

I continue to count my thanks

piling up gratitude day by day

in my little black journal…

_________

#2476-#2496

3 gifts at noon-

-3 year old granddaughter and baby granddaughter at our house for the afternoon and evening

-grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup and popcorn for lunch (this combination is a "family tradition")

-the Hubs home with us because he took Veteran's Day off

3 gifts behind a door-

-bathrooms with hot and cold running water and flush toilets

-my home office aka my sanctuary

-youngest daughter's old toys in a bin in the bedroom closet, a delight to the grand babies now

3 gifts silent-

-morning quiet for my devotions

-trying to learn to listen more, speak less

-three year old granddaughter instructing us that on her birthday she wants us to not sing Happy Birthday too loudly, then "whisper singing" to show us how

3 gifts golden-

-a carpet of golden leaves on my walking path today

-granddaughter's golden hair

-rows of golden leaved fruit trees when we went through the Hood River Valley on our day off

3 gifts hard eucharisteo-

-unmet needs

-unhealed hurts

-unresolved issues

and the God who helps us with them all

3 gifts of laughter-

-laughing with the ladies of our church at a baby shower

-laughing at the Hubs jokes

-always laughing at the grandkid's funny saying and antics

a gift made-

-apple and strawberry cream cheese hand pies

a gift shared-

-the hand pies with the ladies at the shower

a gift passed on-

-the recipe given to a friend

Still following,

Colossians 3:23...

After 3 days of sunny, dry weather the rain has returned today.

It was a perfect morning to stay indoors and make "hand pies", 

while Handel's Messiah played in the background.

I made apple hand pies and strawberry-cream cheese hand pies for a baby shower that I went to this afternoon.

I love to cook, so it was a pleasant task.

It was also a pleasure to do it for the sweet, young mama-to-be who attends our church.

I read this verse this morning and it stuck with me throughout the day.

Not every task I have to do is enjoyable,

but the attitude I do it with can make all the difference in the world.

Not every task I have to do is for someone that I think "deserves" my help,

but if I do it as if it's for the Lord, that too, makes a huge difference.

I pray that God helps this verse to continue to stick with me 

on the days when the tasks aren't as enjoyable as baking pies.

Still following,

Friday's Favs......."Faux French Garden Trug"

Last week I met my blog friend, Adrienne, for a day of catching up with each other,
antiquing, lunching and thrifting!

We drove down to Salem and visited Aunt Bee's House for the first time.

One of my favorite bloggers, Denise of Pink Postcard, has a great space there.

Then we lunched at the French Press, sharing a Croque Monsieur and a savory crepe filled with chicken, spinach, roasted peppers, feta, avocado, sun dried tomato and pesto. 

It was delicious!

Next stop was another large antique mall, but neither of us found anything that made our heart go pitter pat enough to part with our money.

On our way back home, we stopped at the Goodwill.

There I spied this wooden tote that is a bit reminiscent of a french garden trug.

It was bare wood, unstained, unpainted.

On the handle was written "Gladys Johnson" in ball point pen.

My heart went pitter pat.

For $4.99, Gladys Johnson's trash was about to become my treasure.

I brought it home and gave it a good cleaning with a rag and bleach water.

Once dry, I sanded off Gladys' name, a bit sadly I admit.

I most often paint and distress similar items as seen here, here and here.

But Gladys' tote spoke something different to me.

A quick coat of Old English dark rubbed into the wood, followed by some MinWax,

 and that was all it took to give my Goodwill tote the look of a vintage French trug.

 So in my "faux French trug" I thought I'd put together a little mid-morning cafe au lait.

The cost of my lunch, around $10,  my one purchase of the day, $4.99, 

a day spent with a friend, priceless.

Friday's coming friends!
Have a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday
and
a BLESSED weekend!

 
Also linking to Jennifer Rizzo's Fabulously Creative Friday

Simple, easy, accessible - keeping kitchen items in reach...

When I won a giveaway at Mary Alice's blog, Chateau Chic,

she included this lovely little hook made from a piece of vintage silverware in my package.

It hangs on the side of the cabinet that's right above the counter where my Kitchenaid mixer lives, so my measuring spoons are always handy when I'm baking.

I love my All-Clad measuring spoons, (and the cups too!),  that my Hubs got for me one Christmas a few years ago.

So,  I'm definitely a "keep things I use all the time out on the counter" type gal.

You're either like me, or an, "I want my counter tops bare" type gal.

So, which type are you?

Still following,

P.S. Good news, for those wanting a French style butter dish,

 I noticed they now have them at Williams Sonoma!

Wonderful weekend thanks...

We have had an amazing weekend, but the kind that wrings you out and leaves you limp and tired.

While my body wants to stay in bed sipping comforting hot drinks and watching nonsensical Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel, my heart is full of hope and happy expectation.

We had a whole weekend full of ministry at our church and saw so many people set free from past wounds, bondage, guilt, sin and unforgiveness.

There is nothing as rewarding as seeing people encounter the love of God and experience wholeness!

I'm rejoicing.

I'm grateful.
________

                                            

I’ve taken the Joy Dare.

I’m counting one thousand thanks in one year.

I hunt for thanksgiving using the prompts Ann gives us each month.

If you are interested in joining in, click the link above or at the bottom of this post.

I continue to count my thanks

piling up gratitude day by day

in my little black journal…

#2457-#2477

3 gifts acorn small-

-grapes, my favorite

-peanut M&M's for my granddaughter

-baby granddaughter's cute little nose

3 gifts government-

-voting

-our freedom to worship

-our constitution

3 gifts from my window-

-orangish glow of the sun coming up

-frost on the grass

-the cedar branches dripping with dew

a gift sweet-

-red grapes,(again)

a gift salty-

-mutigrain tortilla chips

a gift sipped-

-morning coffee with just a hint of cream

3 gifts harvest-

-a squash waiting for me to make my first attempt at butternut squash soup

-the Christmas season oranges are in at the store

-a crisper drawer full of apples

3 gifts found in Bible reading-

-reading Colossians with She Reads Truth

-Psalm 145:17-19

-Ephesians 3:20-21

3 gifts of remembrance-

-remembering my Daddy, a WWII Navy vet, on this Veteran's Day weekend

-Mama's things found here and there around my home

-taking communion in remembrance of Him and His death for me

Gratefully yours,

Psalm 128:3

This Psalm begins with the promise that the man who fears,  (reveres), the Lord and walks in His ways

will be blessed.

It says that he will eat the fruit of the labor of his hands and it shall be well with him.

Then comes the verse in the photo above, about his wife being like a fruitful vine and his children like olive plants.

I love the word pictures in the Bible, and I love the thought of being a fruitful vine in the heart of my home, and my children, and now grandchildren, being like olive trees seated all around our table.

What a beautiful picture of the blessing of God.

Still following,

Friday's Favs... Welcome In!

Welcome in!

Though I have a wee, little home, I have quite a large entry hall.

Here's the front door, shot as I'm standing a few steps up the stairway to the second story.

That letter "S", for the first letter in our last name, was a rather ugly zebra stripe wooden letter found on clearance at Ross last summer.

A quick spray with brushed nickel spray paint, then a bit of wiping on and then off some black craft paint, and it looks rather like galvanized metal in person, (not as black as in the photo).

I love my little entryway bench, purchased a year or two ago at Camas Antiques.

My galvanized metal boot tray is from Crate and Barrel.

(Country Living magazine featured this boot tray in the November issue!)

My antique butter churn was a gift from a friend at church years ago.

Yes, I think my begonia is on it's last legs.

Turn the corner and the entry hall continues.

It really was a lot of wasted space in our small home until I decided that there aren't any rules saying I can't display my white ironstone in the hallway.

 It's now one of my favorite spaces.

Well, Friday's comin', friends!

Have a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday

and

a BLESSED weekend!

 
Also linking to Jennifer Rizzo's Fabulously Creative Friday